Home sweet ... apartment?

Resident Katie is the gardener of plot 6, where she rasies corn, zucchini and cucumbers ambling up the metal grid. Above is her garden at the beginning of July, below is 2 1/2 weeks later. Katie is thrilled to have this amenity at her apartment complex, and loves to keep her friends and family updated on her latest harvests. Although she grew up with parents who planted a garden, this time gardening is extra enjoyable — because she considers the space her own. It’s a great place to unwind after her shifts as a nurse, she says.

That’s precisely what Johnson wanted. An unexpected benefit of the garden is that maintenance workers also have a chance to reset during their other tasks of the day. “It’s a stress relief for them, too,” Johnson said, noting that if a staff member needs a breather he might say, “‘I’m going to work in the garden for half an hour.’”

This is the second year of the garden, and residents are on a waiting list to get in on next year’s plots. Johnson said the success of the garden at Four Seasons is shaping the developer’s plans to do similar projects in Salt Lake City.

The Four Seasons complex was built with sustainability in mind, Johnson said. The developer negotiated for water rights when buying the property; landscape irrigation is thus provided through recycled groundwater captured in drains. Johnson said Four Seasons accounts for 8 percent of North Logan’s population, but that the complex uses only 1 percent of the city’s culinary water.

Editor’s note: Katie is my relative. I was charmed to hear that her apartment complex provided garden space and knew I needed to visit and see it myself. Sure I’ve seen community gardens before, but this was the first one I’ve ever heard of on-site for apartment dwellers. I hope the idea takes off! Tell me, do you have gardens like this in your town?